Welder
Benjamin Russel is the second eldest and one of the two leaders of Meta Teen 10. He is generally considered to be the brains of the team, possessing the ability of a super-powered intellect and heightened senses, along with computer-like mental processing capabilities. Appearance Ben has short, dark hair that he often allows to grow out to ponytail length before chopping it off. He is described to have “eyes like the earth; too wise and too tired for the youth of his shell” (Claire Michaels, Haze, in Newsreel: Grey). The official character sheets place him at around 5’10”, 170 pounds. His initial appearances in the comics make him seem lanky, but scenes chronologically later give him a more muscled appearance. This may be a result of inaccurate drawing from one comic to the next, but it may also be that the more active environment of Meta Teen 10 helped him build muscle. Jake Russel, Megawatt, Ben’s younger brother, describes him as ugly, but Amy Sorrel, Chi, simply calls him “plain-faced”. He’s referred to as looking “calculative” multiple times throughout the series by several individuals. Abilities As a member of MT10, Ben possesses a massive intelligence, apparently one higher than those the likes of Einstein, Newton, and other scientific genius minds. He has extensive knowledge in several fields of science, as stated in Chapter ( ), Reckoning, but thus far has only demonstrated a few of them: medical sciences (citation needed), astronomy (citation needed), psychology (Newsreel: Speed of Dark), chemistry (citation needed), and mechanical engineering, the last of which he uses frequently to build weapons. He’s mostly self-taught in the majority of these sciences, but claims to converse frequently with multiple leading authorities, including those under the employ of SSL. This is apparently confirmed when he is seen speaking to an SSL scientist in the background of a panel of Chapter ( ). Aside from his intelligence, Ben’s mind is also capable of doing calculations at computer-like speeds. This allows him to have incredible hand-eye coordination and reflexes, and also allows him to plan complex strategies on the go. Hand in hand with this is his nearly-perfect memory, which has allowed him to remember almost every moment of his life since his abilities surfaced. This, out of all his abilities, has the most notable downside—he can’t forget the things that he wants to forget. He also possesses increased use of some of his senses. He can hear and dissect voices in conversations at distances of over 300 feet and see things clearly over a mile away. While his sense of smell and taste remain relatively unchanged, he can also dull or sharpen his pain receptors at will, allowing him to both function while injured and make out even the faintest differences in a smooth surface. It has been stated, however, that he can see more colors than he used to be able to—it’s widely believed that since his sight sharpened, he somehow also activated extra cones and rods in his eyes, and can now perceive more colors than the majority of human beings.